Flooding, Redux

Once again our county is a disaster area, though not as bad as last August. The rains came more steadily and widespread, with already saturated soil refusing to absorb the 5 to 10" of water pouring from the sky. The South Fork of the Root River runs behind our property and we spent Sunday watching it rise slowly until it finally crested its banks over night. Water had pooled up in the adjacent field giving the illusion of flooding, but it took until today to become reality.

August was not that long ago and earlier this year the water had threatened briefly, so I'm well tired of the flooding. Eight years ago, we had the flood of the century, or so we thought. That appeared to be a once in a lifetime flood in the valley, but here we are -- again. Fortunately, the damage has not been as severe as last year in the immediate area. Over in Wisconsin, it is looking worse as Gays Mill, Viola, and Soldiers Grove are facing record flooding.

I'm counting my blessings and hoping the forecast rains this week turn out to be light, or we'll be seeing mudslides again. Some more pictures from our neck of the woods follow:

Walking Away from the Media Madness

On February 1st of this year, the satellite TV service was disconnected at our request. My father and I had found the multitude of channels to have steadily eroded in quality, finally crossing that line of not being worth paying for. Even the theoretically high brow channels of the past, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel had all turned into the rare poorly researched documentary sandwiched between a cacophony of so-called reality shows. Though we were sacrificing a small handful of drama's we enjoyed, the decision was made to double our Internet DSL speed and still save money in the process. After all, we were getting our news from off of the Net more than from the shallow talking heads on TV. So how has it worked out in the intervening months?

I love not having the television set on all the time as background noise. Truly a blissful silence is a welcome thing. After several months, we did hook up the antenna on the roof, after experimenting with a Gray-Hoverlock antenna built from scratch (didn't see a difference, but we haven't gone digital yet) we do have local ABC, PBS, and Fox. Local news can be picked up, but I find it to be less than shallow and have stepped into mud puddles with more depth. That is the nature of the industry and reflects a national trend, I'm afraid. So we aren't completely without TV, just don't have much we want to watch.

So do I miss the satellite service? No. I thought I'd suffer withdrawal and instead have experienced relief - no longer do I end up muttering at documentaries that have the facts and events wrong, which I consider a torment for a history buff. The shouting talking heads and sound bite reporting were a nuisance at best, no matter if I agreed with them or not. Impossible to miss it.

We live in a culture of mass distraction and I am enjoying having less distractions. It is one of those roads once taken that one can't go back from, I'm finding. Watching TV at a waiting room is now painful, now that I've been away from the din, I see even more clearly what dreck modern broadcasting has become.

Attention Thomas!

Cough up the dough or the gnome gets it!

Requiem for a Heavyweight

One of the joys of using the Netflix DVD rental service is the vast library of titles to choose from. Many years ago as a boy, I caught part of a film on TV that stuck in my head and never saw it again. Wandering around the Net, I found a reference to a 1956 Rod Serling teleplay that was remade into a 1962 movie, Requiem for a Heavyweight. A lightbulb clicked on above my head and I knew that was the film I'd seen, the images of Jackie Gleason being chased around a ring and worked over being what had made an impression. So I put it in my queue and eventually got to see it in its entirety a few weeks ago.

Now I understand why the film haunted me so much, it is a film that remains with you for days afterward and one that dares to be something very un-Hollywood. The story starts with the brutal loss of a match by Mountain Rivera to a young Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali's original name) and the sobering news that he can't fight again or he'll go blind. The aforementioned Gleason plays the best performance of his career as Mountain's mangaer, Maish. Maish is a reprehensible person and has gotten himself in trouble with a female gangster, Ma Greeny, owing a considerable sum of money.

What follows is a wonderful character study in B&W and is a truly adult film. By that, I mean that it follows the very realistic consequences of the actions of flawed adults in a tough world. There are scenes in this film that will make you cringe, as you come to care for the obviously brain damaged boxer. The budding romance with a social worker played by Julie Harris leads to some sweet moments, but also the ones that make you cringe the most. Mountain is trying to make a new life while maintaining his sense of honor and dignity, but is acutely aware of his shortcomings. The scheming of Maish interferes and eventually leads to an ending I don't think I'll ever forget.

People think fondly of Rod Serling due to the immense success of the Twilight Zone television series, but few realize what a brilliant writer he was. The human condition and authentic characters were always hallmarks of the series and Requiem for a Heavyweight was his best work. No fantasy, no science fiction, but a realistic look at people operating at the lower end of society. This is an older film that modern directors and writers should be studying.

Verdict
Highly recommended to adults, children won’t understand it and may find some of it disturbing.

Thomas S. Monson New Head of the Latter-day Saints

Today it was announced that Thomas S. Monson is the new president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This came as no surprise, as the tradition of the longest serving apostle being selected meant that he was next in line. What was interesting to me wasn't that Henry B. Eyering was chosen to be 1st Counselor, but that Dieter F. Uchtdorf was named 2nd Counselor. Though one really shouldn't play favorites by choosing a favorite amongst the Quorum of the Twelve, I took a shine to him as soon as he was made an apostle and always look forward to his talks. So I was very happy to see him be brought into the First Presidency of the Church and brought a smile to my face.

While President Hinckley will be missed, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes on as does the work. I had no worries or qualms about the succession, for I knew the Church was in good hands. Tension about leadership changes may be good for politics, but it isn't good for religious organizations and once again our system has shown itself to be inspired.

President Gordon B. Hinckley Has Passed Away

I was called by Thomas Odenwalder who had been text messaged by his sister in Utah that President Gordon B. Hinckley, head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away. Details can be found here.

I know I will see President Hinckley again, but in the mean time I will miss him greatly. There is no question that he will go down in history as one of the greatest Prophets of the Church. His legacy of temple building, his soft words, his great and loving heart marked his stewardship of the LDS faith. A gentle man and a gentleman who presided over the greatest growth of the Church, he was 97 years old.

I'm glad he is back with his wife, whom he missed greatly.


Updated: Identified the friend who called (Sorry Thomas) and bring the post in line with the English language (as it now stands)

Running on Empty

The title covers two subjects today, the first being how alternately I've been busy or sick, hence the lack of posting. I've managed to miss three holidays in the interim, but plan to do more writing. The second thing that running on empty applies to is the Fred Thompson campaign. Much to my disappointment, it is clear that he will be unable to get the endorsement.

I find it fascinating that when given a candidate who does everything people say they want candidates to do, they end up rejecting them. Constantly heard is the desire for a candidate who isn't after the job for power, but out of a sense of duty. Yet Fred was blasted for not acting like he wanted the job more than anything else in the world. We hear how a straight shooter who will tell us things we don't want to hear is needed, yet Fred has been ignored on the issues of social security and medicare benefits. Candidates should run a clean campaign, that's what we want say the voters, yet Fred took heat for not being aggressive enough. In fact, the only uptick he saw was when he pointed out how Huckabee is essentially a Democrat in the South Carolina debate. The issues, only if the candidates would stick to the issues is a cry heard often, but nobody paid attention to the white papers or long, thoughtul videos Thompson put out. Finally, it has been said we are waiting for another Reagan, a true conservative who believes in smaller government, protecting the Constitution, and who is also a social conservative. Well, the voters have been clear, they want the GOP to go to the political left, with the primary winning candidates all being center or center-left.

Simply put, what the voters in the Republican Party say they want and what they really want are two completely different things. I suspect the general electorate are no different.